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Glass 

Book— 



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1 



EVERY DAY 
ALTERATIONS 



Br 

9^ /< 



Jno, A4 Carlstrom 



Price, $2.00 



P Published by 

i The International Tailor 

i ROBERT D. MATHER, Editor. 

I 1181 BROADWAY 

i New York 



i 1916. 



I A Compendium of Causes, Effects | 

and Remedies for the more p 

Common Errors in Cutting | 

i and Making Men's i 

I (jrarments i 



i 



I 



tt^^^ 



C3 



TWO VIEWS 



Alterations 

The Cotter's View. 

The gods gave to the cutter 

The system, taste and wit, 
On wings of art to flutter 

And always make a fit; 
But the devil rules the making, 

And very sad to tell, 
Alt'rations sure are breaking 

Into profits to beat ! 



Busheling 

The TaUar'« View. 

The tailor is the moulder 

Of all the form and grace 
That clothes possess, in shoulder, 

Lapel and every place. 
If it wasn't for the cutter, 

Who hacks and chops and kills 
You'd scarcely speak or utter 

A word of busheling bills. 



)MI^ 



Copyright, 1916. 
By Jno. A. Carlatrom. 




©Gl.A448:n3 
etc ^3 1316 



INTRODUCTION 

ONE OF the interesting things about tailoring is that 
it constantly furnishes problems for solution. After 
we have acquired all the knowledge possible of how 
to cut garments and superintend their making, 
which are the two principal factors in producing good gar- 
ments, we find that a certain percentage of the output requires 
some major or minor alterations. The smaller the percentage 
the better the cutter, but let us hope the day will never come 
when the public will take so little interest in what they wear 
that no alterations will be needed. So long as there is alter- 
ation there will be tailoring and so long as there is tailoring 
there will be alterations. Some trades require more and others 
less, and the higher the grade and the more fastidious the 
patronage the higher the percentage of alterations. 

Regardless of how much or how little alterations are need- 
ed, the skill with which they are performed is an asset to any 
firm, since the object of making garments is not to merely 
go through a certain process and not only to satisfy a custo- 
mer, but to maintain a high standard of that product. Most 
alterations, even the large ones that are made by good houses, 
are done without the request coming from the customer. 
It is good business policy to make them whenever the occasion 
demands it. 

A skillful alteration that perfects a faulty garment is 
money and time well spent, because it is always cheaper to 
alter a garment than to make a new one and to satisfy a cus- 
tomer is the only way to hold him. To satisfy a customer 
means more than to avoid an alteration if he does not request 
it. A bungling, makeshift alteration is always expensive, be- 
cause the difference between the time spent in making a half- 
way and a complete alteration is small, while the effect is large. 
Therefore, no matter how viewed, the art of altering is an im- 
portant one. This is recognized by all who aim to "make 
good," yet, strange to say, it is one of the features that text- 
book publishers who cater to tailoring have overlooked and 
this volume enters a field that it, therefore, occupies alone, and 
we believe it will fill a long felt want. 

Though it is impossible to cover all of the alterations that 
come up in actual practice and as many occur but rarely, the 
illustrations and descriptions have been held down to the im- 
portant ones and will be found direct, as well as completely 
analytic of the cause, or causes, that bring them about in both 
cutting and making. 

Believing that anything that contributes to the trades' 
increased knowledge is valuable, these pages, which are the 
result of a large experience, are submitted for the trades' 
approval. 



INDEX 

Title I 

Alterations and Busheling (a Poem) 2 

Introduction 3 

Alterations on Coats S to ^7 

Alterations on Vests i8 to 20 

Alterations on Trousers 21 to 24 

COATS 

Wrinkles Under the Back of Collar 5 

Wrinkles Back of Scye 6 

Fullness at Crease Edge 8 

Fullness in Front of Scye 9 

Wrinkle in Front of Shoulder 10 

Broken Fronts 1 1 

Scye Too Deep , 12 

Overlapping Fronts 14 

Fronts Swinging Away at Bottom 15 

SLEEVES 

Erect Coat, Normal Sleeve 16 

Stooping Coat, Normal Sleeve 17 

VESTS 

Tightness at Top Button 18 

Smallness at Bottom of Forepart 18 

Too Much Fullness at Scye 19 

Waist Suppression 19 

Excess Length at Opening 20 

Excess Length at Scye 20 

TROUSERS 

Too Open in the Legs 21 

Too Tight at Crotch 22 

Fullness Below the Seat 23 

Manipulation for Large Calves 24 



WRINKLES UNDER THE BACK OF 
THE COLLAR 




Sketch 1. 



THE CAUSE of this familiar fault is us- 
ually put down as the result of the back- 
part-shoulder seam being too long from the 
end of the shouldei to the neck, or too much 
length of the backpart at the top, and it is 
therefore considered a fault in cutting. 

Though this is true in a general sense, it is 
often caused by other reasons than cutting 
too long a shoulder seam, or too long a back- 
part at the point affected. It is frequently pro- 
duced in making and from more than one 
cause. A short collar will always produce it. 
The backpart held too full to the forepart, near 
the neck, in joining the shoulder seam is an- 
other reason. Linings short at that point will 
give it and even too narrow a lining will afifect 
it the same way. 

Therefore, no set rule can be given as a 
remedy until the case is analyzed and the cause is located. To let the back 
up will ordinarily remedy the defect, because if the backpart is too long, that 
will shorten it. If the collar is too short, that will narrow the top to corre- 
spond to the width of collar available. If the linings are short or narrow, the 
outside will be adjusted to it. If the front canvases are out of adjustment 
the opening of the shoulder gives the opportunity to rectify it. 

All of this can be done without knowing the reason for it, but as this 
will not prevent its recurrence the cause should be ascertained in each in- 
stance. When we know the reason for anything we approach the problem 
intelligently and the remedy suggests itself. To let the fullness up, if it is 
needed over the blades, is not a remedy, but merely "Borrowing from Peter to 
pay Paul." To place too much of the backpart fullness near the collar on the 
shoulder seam is not a good plan at any time. It is one of the remnants left 
of the days when the concave shoulder was the proper effect, but which is 
not in vogue today and therefore cannot be applied without giving the effect 
shown in the sketch, since the shoulder is both cut and worked diflferently. 
Fullness placed near the end of the shoulder will give blade room and 
incidentally turn the shoulder seam toward the front, thereby lifting and clean- 
ing the back of the scye and incidentally give the required room for spring at 
the front of the shoulder. It goes without saying, that if fullness is placed 
toward the end of the shoulder instead of near the collar the tendency for 
wrinkles at the point illustrated would be removed from that cause and it 
is one of the most frequent reasons for the fault. However, ascertain the 
cause and alter fundamentally, according to the reason of the cause. 



WRINKLES BACK OF THE SCYE 




T 



Sketch 2 



>HIS fault is one of the most annoying 
and, frequently, difficult to overcome, 
since it seldom originates at the point where 
it shows. From a cutting point of view it is 
created by too much shortness at the center 
seam. Shortness at one point always means 
length at another, and a short back-center seam 
naturally means length directly opposite, as at 
the points indicated. 

The same fault, however, can be developed 
in making, even when the length quantities at 
the back-center seam and at the back of the 
scye are cut in perfect adjustment. If the 
shoulder is not properly "held up" at the end, 
by working it forward for ease at the front of 
the shoulder, that ease will find its way to the 
back and manifest itself in the same way as if 
it had been cut with a short back-center seam. 
To illustrate this in detail the following diagrams are introduced: 
Diagram 3 is the backpart as regularly drafted. 

Diagram 4 shows the same backpart, of which the normal lines are 
shown in the light, broken lines and a straight back-center seam in the solid 
one. As a straight line is shorter than a curved one the solid line does not 
give room enough over the blades and the shortness at this point makes 
fullness at the back of the scye. Even when the width is made up, back of 
the scye, as from the broken to the solid line, not only does the material not 
fall into the proper position, but the run of the back-scye fails to fall evenly 
into the scye of the forepart. 

Diagram 5 shows how to gain additional length, beyond the amount 
shown in the normal, in Diagram 3. The backpart may be split as shown 
by the broken lines, pivoting at the scye. 

Diagram 6 shows the same general idea, except that it is pivoted at the 
back-center seam and overlapped at the scye, thereby holding the back-center 
seam at the normal length and making the shortness direct back of the scye. 
All of this refers to shortcomings caused by the cutting. 

When this fault is caused by the making it is usually done by placing 
the fullness of the backpart shoulder too near the neck, as is shown by 

Diagram 7, and very little, or none, toward the end of the shoulder. This 
tends to force the length, that should produce spring in front of the shoulder 
bone, toward the back and leave the scye portion of the forepart flat and 
permit the excess length to fall toward the back of the scye. The light, 
broken lines show the position of the backpart as cut. The heavy lines 
illustrate how the working leaves it. 

Diagram 8 shows the proper way to work this portion of the garment 




Diag. 3 Diag. 4 Diag. 5 Diag. 6 

and when other details, such as the length of collar, length of linings, as well 
as widths, and when the canvases are placed properly, the result will be 
satisfactory. (Continued on Page 8.) 




Diag. 7 



Diag. 8 



FULLNESS AT THE CREASE EDGE 



FROM the cutting point of view too much 
length at the crease edge is caused by a 
shoulder cut too crooked, but the fault is fre- 
quently developed by careless making. If the 
edge of the roll is held too tight it will nat- 
urally shorten it and cause a corresponding 
length at the crease edge. At other times the 
crease edge is stretched in making, which is 
easily done, since both the material and can- 
vas are often on the bias along this line. All 
of these defects must be met by remedying the 
condition that produced it. 

If the pattern is cut too crooked, and there- 
by causing this length, the alteration is to be 
made as follows : 

Diagram 12 shows the pattern, as cut, by 
the broken lines and the solid ones show the 
alteration to shorten the crease edge and give 
more length at the front of the scye. A coat that is long at the crease edge 
is usually short at the front of the scye, unless the whole shoulder is too 
long, in which case the strap will have to be shortened, besides the changes 
shown. In this case the outlet at the gorge is used and the excess length is 
taken off at the end of the shoulder as illustrated. 




Sketch 



BACK OF SCYE 
WRINKLES. 

(Continued from Page 7.) 

Place the fullness of the back- 
part shoulder seam as illustrated, 
in order to pocket the blade. 
This will curve the shoulder 
seam forward, as shown by the 
amount it falls in front of the 
pattern as cut, given in the bro- 
ken lines. This also lifts the 
back of the scye and holds it 
clean and the surplus length falls 
in front of the shoulder bone, 
where it gives ease for the for- 
ward movements of the arm. A 
man should be able to move in- 
side of his coat without disturb- 
ing it at the neck. 




Diag. 12 



8 



FULLNESS IN FRONT OF THE SCYE 




T 



Sketch 9 



• HE WRINKLES in front of the scye are 
caused, in most instances, by cutting a 
too straight a shoulder. In other cases, how- 
ever, it is produced in making, and the remedy 
should be applied with the view of correcting 
the fault that produced it. If the front of the 
scye is not held in sufificiently in making there 
is no use of straightening the shoulder to rem- 
edy it. The proper thing to do is to hold it in, 
as it should have been done in the first place. 
The spring that is necessary for ease at the 
front of the shoulder bone is, sometimes, not 
properly held in place, or the canvases are not 
properly worked and the fullness that is needed 
at that place is permitted to fall below the 
point where it belongs and shows itself as indi- 
cated by the illustration. When that is the 
case there is only one alteration and that is to 
hold in the lower part of the scye and work spring over the front bone. In 
other words, to give length and shortness at their proper places. 

When the pattern is cut with a too straight a shoulder adjustment, the 
following changes are to be made : 



Diagram 10 shows the pattern 
as cut in the broken outlines, 
which, by having been cut too 
straight causes the fault noted 
in Sketch 9 — too much length 
in front of the scye. The 
solid outlines show the method 
to overcome this, by shifting 
the shoulder of the pattern 
backward, utilizing the outlet 
that should always be left at 
the end of the shoulder, or at 
the upper end of the scye. This 
will shorten the front of the 
scye quantity and distribute 
the quantities as needed. The 
amount the shoulder is crook- 
ened is made to correspond to 
the amount that it was too 
straight in the first place. 




THE FRONT-SHOULDER WRINKLE 




T 



Sketch 13 



^HIS is the most common and annoying 
defect that can occur in a garment, and 
is one of the faults that the trade has not yet 
ris€n> above in its entirety. It is, perhaps, not 
one that occurs so frequently in trades where 
the making is above the average, as it may be 
set down as a fault that comes from that source 
practically entirely. This is in contradiction 
to the idea that shoulder adjustment, either a 
straight or a crooked shoulder, causes it, 
though the prevailing opinion used to be that 
the latter kind, in particular, was the reason. 
Fashion and prevailing ideas have swung from 
extreme straight to extreme crooked shoulders 
and good coats, with smooth shoulders, have 
been made from patterns cut during the dif- 
ferent periods that favored each in turn. 

It can be set down as a safe rule that 90 
per cent of coats that break in the shoulder are faultily made. A coat cut 
wrong may not fit well in the shoulders, or elsewhere, but if it has wrinkles 
in the shoulder the fault is with the maker. 

The causes that bring these wrinkles are numerous. One, that "like 
the poor," is always with us, is the short collar, but short canvases and linings, 
or lack of width of these parts will do it with equal certainty. To say to a 
tailor that his collar is short, or that his canvases are short, is not a convincing 
statement, if he does not fully understand that these parts should have excess 
width and length. Many figure that inasmuch as these parts go inside of the 
coat they require less length than the outside, while others take pride in a 
smooth inside for its own sake. This favors the inside at the expense of the 
outside and leaves the strain to show on the outside, and there is always 
more or less strain. 

A tailor who will answer the argument that his collar is short, by stating 
that there is a half-inch of fullness in it, is not in position to understand the 
requirements. As the coat collar must fall into the offset of the linen collar 
and have sufficient length to stand up at the same angle above the offset, 
considerable length is necessary. Many good houses insist on collars having 
two inches of fullness, in order to get this effect. 

Again, a long gorge is necessary to make smoothness, which is different 
from a front shoulder stretched before joining. The canvases should be 
made the shape required and with the proper length of collar at the gorge 
and the proper spring at the end of the shoulder, the outside material, which 
is flexible, will fall into position, if properly handled. It is useless to shape 

(Continued on Page 11.) 
10 



THE BROKEN FRONT 




o 



jNE of the defects that does more to dis 
figure a garment than anything else is 
the broken front. It takes two forms, one of 
which is to turn over at the edge, as is here 
given in an emphasized form, for better illus- 
tration, on the left forepart, and the other the 
waving, perpendicular breaks on the right 
side. Of course, no cutting can effect this, 
and it must, therefore, be treated from a 
making point of view entirely. A long edge 
can be produced by a too crooked a shoulder, 
which has a tendency to make the lower part 
of the coat fall away, while an over-straight 
shoulder will cause overlapping at the lower 
button. Yet neither of these cases apply to a 
"rippled" front, or an over-turning edge, for 
no matter if the fronts overlap or fall away 
the broken front is no part of it unless it is 
put there. 

The cause of the rolling front shown on the left forepart is too wide a 
facing and canvas and shortness, at the point where the facing and lining 
join, will emphasize it. The trick of the right amount of length and width 
is the solution. Sometimes the facing is permitted to be long on the edge, 
as compared with the length at the lining edge, and this will tend toward 
producing the effect. Often it is produced in basting the facing to the fore- 
part, by not observing the exact position in which the facing should fall. 

The "ripples" shown on the right forepart are mostly produced by a 
short and narrow canvas. No matter how carefully the edge is made and the 
facing basted, a short and narrow canvas will cause the defect shown. 

The remedies for these faults suggest themselves when we know what 
has produced them. 



Sketch 14 



THE FRONT SHOULDER WRINKLE. 

(Continued from Page 10.) 

the outside and expect the inside to conform to the harsher materials of which 
the canvases are composed. 

The canvases are the frame on which the out-side depends for its form 
and shape and the less stretching of the outside, with the view of gaining 
shape, the better the result. 

The proper way to alter a broken shoulder is to produce ease to prevent 
the drag that causes it, no matter which part makes the strain. 



II 



TOO DEEP A SCYE 




Sketch 15 



ONE OF the most disfiguring ailments of 
a coat is a scye too deep, or cut with a 
run of scye that does not correspond to the 
part of the body where it is to fall. The coat 
and the sleeve may look and feel all right when 
the arm falls at the side of the body, but the 
moment the arm is raised it will produce the 
drags and wrinkles shown. 

Sketch 15, from the back view. 

Sketch 16 shows the same defect from the 
front view. 

The reason for this is that too large an arm 
scye, in both depth and width, encroaches on 
the width of the forepart and thereby pulls 
from the front and at the bottom of the scye 
when the arm is raised. 

A scye with a dug-out effect at the front holds the sleeve down when an 
attempt is made to raise it and causes a drag directly over the muscles, drags 
from the front, thereby pulling it away from the neck and, in general, causes 
the unsightly efifect shown, besides giving a very uncomfortable feeling to 
the wearer. 

Diagram 17 gives the outlines of the upper 
portion of a normal draft, showing in general 
the shape of the scye as it should be. 

Diagram 18 shows the normal outlines, cor- 
responding to the previous diagram in broken 
lines, and the heavy, solid lines that many cut- 
ters employ in shaping the scye. It is too 
straight over the front bone of the shoulder 
and has too much of a corner efifect at the 
lower portion of the front of the scye. It is 
also hollowed too much below the side seam. 

Diagram 19 illustrates the head of a normal 

sleeve and 

Diagram 20 shows the same top sleeve fall- 
ing evenly into the adjoining parts of the 
undersleeve of each part. 

Diagram 21 shows a sleeve head, as often 
cut, in the solid lines, as compared with the 
normal lines shown by the broken ones. 




Sketch 16- 



12 




Diag. 17, 



Diag. 



Diagram 22 shows in the solid lines how this sleeve will join, instead of 
as it should, as shown by the broken lines. It can easily be seen that when 
this sleeve, with its hollows, falling opposite the hollows of the scye of the 
forepart, the drags illustrated in sketches 15 and 16 are the results when the 
arm is raised. 




Diag. 19. 



Diag. 20. 



The alteration for this fault is to reshape the patterns of both the fore- 
part and the sleeve and re-cut them by the corrected patterns. At the try-on 
this is easily done, but on the finished garment it means more of an under- 
taking. Therefore, avoid wrong and uneven formations. 




Diag. 21. 



Diag. 22. 



13 



OVERLAPPING FRONTS 




Sketch 25 



WRONG balance in a garment will produce either too much or too little 
material at the front, which means a corresponding lack of or surplus 
of spring over the seat at the back. The present illustration shows too much 
overlap at the bottom of the front, and it follows that there is a correspond- 
ing lack of spring over the hips. 

A short collar and a front edge that is held in too tight will produce 
the effect, and in that case require different treatment than when the balance 
is wrong. In fact, in each case the remedy suggests itself, for it merely 
means the undoing of what has been done. In cutting the cause is often 
wrong attitude. A normal coat cut for an erect form will throw the garment 
forward as far as the size at the back will permit it, at which point it will 
strike heavily on the hips and break over the waist, while the material at the 
lower button will represent all the surplus size that is otherwise evenly 
distributed all around the garment. Shortness infused in the making along 
the front edge, or at the collar, requires to be rectified at the particular 
points at which it appears. To alter the balance or attitude of the garment 
is not a satisfactory solution. 

14 



FRONTS SWINGING AWAY 
AT BOTTOM 




Sketch 26 



THIS illustration shows a reverse effect of the previous one. Here we 
find a scarcity of materials at the front, and, as a natural consequence, 
there is a surplus at the back. When this fault is produced from an error in 
cutting it is frequently caused by cutting a normal garment for a stooping 
form, or in some other ways by wrong distribution of the total quantities. 
To remedy this requires a readjustment of the balance, which must be done 
by bringing the garment into place. This will disturb the shoulder section, 
and requires the shortening of the straps and readjustment of the gorge, 
which means that the collar must be taken off and the shoulders opened, 
which, in turn, cannot be done satisfactorily without taking the sleeves out. 

A too long a strap length is one of the causes that produces this effect 
and requires the same alterations, in general, as already described. 

These are some of the principal and frequent alterations that come up in 
every-day practice, and to know the cause is more than half of the remedy, 
because it can be handled intelligently and a large percentage avoided by 
repeating the same error. 

15 



WRONG ATTITUDE IN SLEEVES 




ERECT COAT 
NORMAL SLEEVE. 

MANY cutters give much care to 
their cutting and never fail to 
provide for the attitude in the body of 
the coat, but, somehow, do not feel it 
necessary to make the same provision 
for the sleeve, holding to the opinion 
that the attitude of the sleeve follows 
the body of the coat, or that it can be 
hung higher or lower to meet the re- 
quirement. 

The present sketch illustrates an 
erect coat with a normal sleeve. As an 
erect coat falls back further than the 
normal the normal sleeve will fall too 
far forward, and to merely lower it in 
the scye will make the narrow part of 
the sleeve fall in the wide part of the 
scye and therefore will not make a 
satisfactory sleeve head. 

The alteration is to cut the top of 
the sleeve normal, but to draw a new 
line as far back of the normal, at the 
elbow, as the degree of erectness dealt 
with and hold the lower part of the 
sleeve by this line. This will permit 
the sleeve to go in normally into the 
scye and take the same attitude as the 
coat from the scye downward. 



Sketch 23 



J6 



WRONG ATTITUDE IN SLEEVES 



STOOPING COAT 
NORMAL SLEEVE. 

' I ''HIS illustration shows the reverse 
of the previous diagram, or a 
stooping coat with a normal sleeve. 
As the stooping coat falls more to the 
front than the normal, the sleeve in 
normal position falls farther back than 
it should, as shown by the solid lines, 
and when the arm falls to correspond 
to the body it causes wrinkles at the 
front, as the shadings show. The 
broken outlines indicate where the 
sleeve should fall for this type, and 
they must be cut just the reverse to 
those explained for the previous dia- 
gram to have it fall to correspond to 
the attitude of the stooping form. 




Sketch 24 



17 



ALTERATIONS ON VESTS 




TIGHTNESS AT THE TOP BUTTON 

Diagram 27 shows a frequent fault in which 
the garment shows a lack of size at the top 
button, as shown by the solid line, at which 
the breast line ends. The distance from it to 
the pannelled lines shows the amount it falls 
short at the top button. This makes the 
shoulder adjustment too straight for the size 
at the top button, and thereby emphasizes 
the lack of size at that point. 

To remedy this it becomes necessary to 
crooken the shoulder, as shown by the broken 
line, ending in an arrow point. At the end 
of the shoulder the same amount can be let 
out, if the wide shoulder effect is required. In 
most cases it is not. 



Diag. 27. 



SMALLNESS AT BOTTOM OF FORE- 
PART. 

Diagram 28 shows a lack of size at the bot- 
tom of the forepart, as from the solid to the 
pannelled line. The shoulder adjustment cor- 
responds to the pannelled line, but is too 
crooked for the solid one. It must, therefore, 
be straightened, as by the broken line, ending 
in an arrowpoint. An outlet should always 
be left at this point, and in this case the 
shoulder can be narrowed at the scye, as by 
the broken line formation to the arrowpoint 
and across the top, as by the broken lines. 



16 




Diag. 28. 



ALTERATIONS ON VESTS 




Diag. 29. 



TOO MUCH FULLNESS 
AT SCYE 

Diagram 29 illustrates too much fullness at 
the scye. A V taken out at this point will 
prove the most direct remedy, and is a frequent 
requirement for large-breasted men, where 
size is needed at the center of the forepart. 
The tendency to crooken the shoulder is of 
advantage for this type. 



THE WAIST SUPPRESSION 

Diagrjim 30. To gain chest fullness and, 
incidentally, a small waist efifect, the V illus- 
trated in this diagram is necessary. The 
amount suppressed may be more or less ac- 
cording to requirements. Unless an empha- 
sized small waist efifect is desired size may be 
added, as by the broken lines at the side seam. 




19 



Diag. 30. 



ALTERATIONS ON VESTS 




Diag. 31. 



EXCESS LENGTH AT OPENING. 

Diagram 31. Too much length at the open- 
ing edge is, generally speaking, when the 
making is not at fault, caused by too crooked 
a shoulder. It follows that a corresponding 
tightness falls at the scye. To remedy this 
condition is to straighten the shoulder, as is 
shown by the broken lines. In fact, it is con- 
sidered a good thing to have the shoulder suffi- 
ciently straight so that a certain amount of 
fullness falls at the scye and to take that full- 
ness out by a V, which gives chest fullness 
and prevents flatness that cannot fit the natural 
rounding found at this point. 



EXCESS LENGTH AT THE SCYE 

Diagram 32. When more fullness falls at 
the scye than can be taken out with a V, it is 
a case of too straight a shoulder. In that case 
the shoulder is to be crookened, as by the 
broken lines, or the reverse of the process ex- 
plained in the previous diagram. 




Diag. 32. 



20 




ALTERATIONS ON TROUSERS 



THIS illustration shows trousers as they appear 
when too open in the legs. When worn they 
give too much length at the inseam, since the legs 
fall closer than the trousers, thereby forcing the ma- 
terial in the same direction, which strains the outside, 
causing shortness at that seam and corresponding 
length at the inseam. 

Diagram 34 shows how to remedy the defect. The 
trousers must be opened at both seams from the 



Diag. 34. 



Diag. 33. 

bottom to the hip and the 
material is to be thrown 
toward the inseam, but as 
no outlet is available on 
the forepart the outside 
seam edge must be 
stretched. The inseam is 
shrunk in until it falls as 
from the double, broken 
lines, which are the nor- 
mal lines of the pattern 
as drafted, to the solid 
ones. On the backpart 
the outlet is utilized at 
the inseam and the same 
amount reduced at the 
outside seam, as from the 
broken to the solid lines. 

The straightening of the 
back-center seam is often 
resorted to, but as the 
amount let out at the top 
must be taken off at the 
side seam there is no sav- 
ing of work and, besides, 
there is no opportunity to 
have the forepart follow, 
and is, therefore, not as 
effective as the method 
just described. 




21 



ALTERATIONS ON TROUSERS 




TOO TIGHT AT CROTCH. 

Diagram 35 illustrates one of the 
most annoying faults in trousers ; one 
that causes the wearer more discomfort 
than anything else. While it may be 
local in the crotch it is usually accom- 
panied by tightness over the seat, 
across the part shown by the double 
arrow-head line. Even though they 
arc of ample size at the side seam the 
fault may be emphasized at the center 
seam and the "cutting in" at that re- 
gion makes the wearer feel as if he 
was gradually being cut in two. 

The double, broken lines show the 
pattern as drafted and the single 
broken lines are the usual outlets. The 
heavy, solid lines show the alterations 
made, by adding more material across 
the seat and from the top of the inseam 
to the knee. 

It goes without the saying that this 
re-shaping must be done carefully, 
since the run of these lines is as im- 
portant as is the additional size. The 
size can be added without gaining the 
ease required, if the lines do not con- 
form to the part of the body they are 
to fit. Size and outline must be given 
with the same object in view. The 
outline may undo the effect that the 
size properly given will otherwise 
produce. 



22 



ALTERATIONS ON TROUSERS 




Diag. 36. 

Diagram 37 shows 
the remedy, and the 
surest way is to cor- 
rect the pattern, take 
the trousers apart 
entirely and recut 
them. The pattern 
is corrected by cut- 
ting across both the 
backpart and the 
forepart and spread 
them at the front and 
overlap them at the 
back center seam, 
pivoting at the side 
seam, as illustrated. 
In emphasized cases 
it is well to deepen 
the back-center seam 
below the overlap, as 
by the circled lines. 



FULLNESS BELOW THE SEAT. 

THIS fault is often one of wrong attitude. It is a 
fault most frequently found in trousers for erect 
men. This suggests that the original pattern has not 
been cut in keeping with the attitude of the man for 
whom they were cut. 




Diig. 37. 



23 



ALTERATIONS ON TROUSERS 




MANIPULATION FOR 
LARGE CALVES 

Diagrcun 38 shows how to rem- 
edy trousers that strike on the 
ealf. This is particularly neces- 
sary when the calves are more 
than usually well developed. 
Curve outward at both seams, as 
from the double, broken lines to 
the solid ones and press the round- 
ing toward the center until the 
seams are straight. In general 
use care in shaping the parts be- 
fore the seams are sewed. 

The foregoing gives the princi- 
pal alterations that come up every 
day in practice, which, if ob- 
served, not only gives the man- 
ner in which the faults should be 
remedied, but also suggests how 
to avoid them. 



[Finis] 



Dlag. 38. 



24 



